Last Thursday Riley turned 2. Yes, just 3 weeks shy of her partner-in-crime. So Saturday she had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party. I just wanted to share some cute pictures of these 2 enjoying her special day:

Riley Faith :) Love her sooooo much!

"Kay-Kay" {as Riley calls him} celebrating with his orange balloon!

DOES THIS KID EVER STOP JUMPING!?

No. He doesn't.

Friday I got the chance to go birthday shopping for Riley by myself {rare, I know}. Instead of zooming through the aisles trying to keep Kaleb's hand inside the cart I got to browse the toys slowly trying to think of the perfect gift for Riley. As soon as I headed down the first aisle I realized how very different it is on the girl side of the toy store. Holy Barbies, Babies and Bottles Batman! I am so excited to shop for this stuff with Kamryn- you really forget all the neat stuff available for little girls.

I settled on a little boy baby doll (since she will have a brother arriving in a few short weeks) Yes, just a few weeks Jess! We also got her the "magic" feeding set. You know, the one where the milk/juice disappears when you tip it up. Love those and I think Riley did too. She was carrying it around before the party was over.

Kaleb lost interest from the start and was playing "tttttttttttrrrrrrractor" with Riley's great grandpa the whole time. See him driving it on the table?

Boys. You never realize how different they are until you have one of both. I'm really sad that I didn't get a picture of the amazing cake that Jess made. However, Kamryn was having a melt down during cake cutting so I was otherwise preoccupied.

Happy Birthday Riley! We have loved watching you grow into such a sweet and caring little girl. Can't wait to see what this year has in store for you!

On Saturday night Brian and I spent our baby-free night at a Halloween Party. I was really excited this year to spend some adult time with my parents (who are usually the ones watching the babies on our free nights). We spent some time brain-storming about our costumes and finally settled on them:

Brian went as Bret Michael's (The lead singer of Poison, most recently won Celebrity Apprentice)

And Brian's version...

And I went as Snooki {Nicole} from the MTV show Jersey Shore:﻿

And my famous tan & hair bump...

We had a blast with my parent's who dressed up too:

Penny lives on an old farm and converted the horse barn this year. It looked amazing:

I cannot even lie though... We left the party before 1 am. Not even 5 years ago Brian and I probably would've just gotten started. Even my parent's outlasted us... but then again they didn't have 2 small children to drain their energy all day.

Even little man got in on the action Sunday morning. He was watching Toy Story like this! :)

While we had a blast without our children we picked them up early Sunday morning and spent the whole day cooking, cleaning and relaxing. It was such a fun weekend- we cannot wait to get the kids dressed up for Halloween.

I apologize in advance for my back-to-work but lack of post's happening lately. I don't know how many of you are in the catering/food service business but for obvious reasons {Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years} 4th quarter is our busiest season ever. And we are gearing up for that now... Plus, we are open for lunches daily and now that the weather is getting colder we are getting these insane lunch rushes. I can't complain though. I love my job. I love that I'm home by 2 pm everyday and that gives me plenty of family time.

I am very excited for our upcoming weekend plans. Tonight we are putting the finishing touches on our costumes for Halloween. Every year my mom's best friend {and we all know Mom's BFF's become more like Aunts when you grow up} has a ridiculous Halloween party. Of course, in the true Halloween spirit you must come dressed for the occasion. Brian and I always get a huge kick out of picking something going on in the media and then making our costumes. It's so much fun to sit and brain storm and feed off each other's ideas. {Totally random side note: I've noticed a ton of guys this year who simply refuse to participate with their significant other's during this holiday and that makes me really thankful for Brian who isn't afraid to dress up and have some fun with me.} Saturday we are going to Riley's big 2nd birthday bash and then the kiddos are off to my grandparent's and we are off to our party with my parents. I am so excited to have a baby-free night AND get to hang with my parents... that NEVER happens.

Sunday we are going to watchThe Bengal's bounce back from the lack-luster season they are having and possibly do some shopping for our family photo's we are having taken next week. Sounds like a very exciting weekend to me!

Last Sunday we got up and made some breakfast and decided to do "Pumpkin Carving in Pajamas." Kaleb loved it so much we are talking about doing it every year. Here are some photos from our outing:

First, we have to draw on it. He told us he wanted his pumpkin to be "happy!"

He wasn't sure at first... but he got over that real quick.

See? All smiles.

I guess we carved too early for Kamryn.

Teamwork :)

He wanted to clean out Kamryn's baby pumpkin by himself. He did a good job too!

That's some serious concentration.

I love that my camera has a timer :) because then I get great pics like this!

{Sorry about the just woke up look- we we're in our pajamas!}

I just thought I'd throw in this one of my whole family {even the puppies got in on this one}

I'll be sure to take tons of pictures this weekend and catch everyone up next week!

We had a fun-filled weekend that started with a trip to Shaw Farms Saturday morning with the Shankford's! The farm was so much more than a pumpkin patch. They had an awesome character village, petting area with tons of animals, rides, food, live bluegrass band and corn maze. Riley and Kaleb might have been overstimulated by all of the action because it was extremely difficult to get either one to stop for a decent picture. Nevertheless, it was a great time and I know the kiddos enjoyed themselves!

This was the first picture I took and the only one he agreed willingly to stop for :) Love these colors!

It looks like Kaleb and Riley we're protecting the bridge from intruders. Hey, at least they worked together.

Kaleb loved running around in here. Next summer, this kid needs a playhouse!

Such a sweet picture... too bad he was pulling all the buds off the Mum's.

Both of my sweet babies :)

Patiently waiting to get on a ride. Kaleb has been really curious about noses lately.

They we're "dwwwwwwwiving" this ride (He & Brian are in the very front)

Parenting is stressful. You really underestimate how much someone will need you constantly. I mean, you never realize when you are pregnant that after this baby comes you probably won't ever go to the bathroom with the door closed again. You stress about breast vs bottle, bedtime routines, too much sugar, eating right, potty training, temper tantrums and doctor's appointments. I find myself constantly wondering if we're doing enough? Then you get an example of some horrible parenting and realize, "Yeah. I got this."

We live in an apartment on the top floor where you share a common entrance. We only have 1 other family on our floor so it stays pretty quiet up here. Saturday morning Kaleb and I got up early (around 9ish) when I heard a girl's voice. I ignored it for a few minutes and then went to investigate. I saw our neighbor's daughter playing on the landing right outside our door. She is 5 months older than Kaleb. When I asked where her Mommy was she told me inside. I knocked a few times with no answer so I went ahead and opened the door. Her parents were asleep on a mattress on the living room floor. I was extra quiet when I picked her up and put her back inside the living room and told her to please stay inside until they wake up and then she could come over and play with Kaleb later.

I wasn't even inside the door when she came running back out. My mom mode kicked in... what do you do in the situation? I can't leave her in the hall. She could fall down the stairs, get abducted, choke, ANYTHING this girl is 2 years old people! I brought her into our apartment and gave her a snack while I tried to call both parent's phones. Nothing. So I marched over to her parents house and beat on the door for a few minutes. Still nothing.

Now don't get me wrong, I have caught a few extra minutes on the couch while Kaleb played quietly on the floor or watched cartoons. But to have someone inside your house? or your daughter outside the house? Ugh. I was stuck.

So I put her back into her house and told her to go wake up Mommy while I knocked on the door. She didn't wake her up but it did finally get the mom's attention. While I was beating on the door, the little girl was trying to open it from the inside while I held it closed. Her screaming (because she couldn't get back out) finally woke them up and I heard the mom lock the deadbolt. So I knocked harder.

She finally answered and had that embarrassing, "I found your child wandering the halls and I've been keeping her company while you nap in the livingroom" talk. Nice. I just cannot understand that happening. You have children, forget to lock the dead bolt and never notice they are gone?

Yeah. I'm going to go a little easier on myself from now on in the parenting department.

Speaking of bad parenting... I'm sure this guy's parents aren't too proud right now. Or maybe they are, who knows?

That is Chase Utley, second baseman for the Phillies. And a cheater.

The Cincinnati Red's finally made it to the playoffs after 15 years of waiting. If you do the math, I was 10 years old the last time they even went to a playoff, let alone WON the World Series (that was 1990, if you were wondering and I was only 5 years old). Being the die-hard baseball and football junkie I am this weekend was spent watching them lose to the Phillies. And we deserved to lose based on the way we played with a ton of errors and not a lot of hitting.

And that is just fine. I am proud that they made it in the first place. We are a very young team and it was just our luck we played the World Series winner last year. However, in Game 2 the Red's had an awesome 4-0 lead. Our lead slowly slipped away heading into the 5th inning and we were down 3-4 with Mr.Utley representing the tying run.

That is Chapman. Our rookie pitcher who on average throws over 100 mph. He pitched one to Utley high and inside... in the confusion the umpire was under the impression Utley was hit by his pitch and gave him the base. But after reviewing the tape, it NEVER hit him. NEVER. The sound the umpire heard was the ball tipping off our catcher's glove. AND Utley NEVER corrected him. He just took his base, knowing he didn't get hit. I mean, if you get hit by a 102 mph fastball (which is what that particular pitch was clocked at) you would know it.

Utley went on to be called safe at 2nd base (after review he was out) and there were a few arguments he never touched 3rd as he was heading home to score the tying run. Obviously, that one error on the umpire's part could've changed the game or even the playoffs. If you believe in karma, Chase Utley has it coming.

Come on Utley. You are a WORLD SERIES champion. My son wears his Phillies hat (that we got a Shriners) around everywhere. You don't get a lot of chances to cheat in baseball and that is exactly what he did. And what does that teach all those doe-eyed boys dreaming of being there one day? That cheating is okay, as long as it wins you the game and you don't get caught until afterward.

If that we're my son, we'd be having a very long conversation about the clear-cut difference between right and wrong. Because there are things in life more important than winning a game.

Hand in Hand

I'm Ericka. I'm half of a whole, caterer extraordinaire, wanna-be writer, amateur photographer, book devourer, family-lovin', over-organizing, home-town sports nut sharing my life with a devilishly handsome southern boy. Our road to parenthood was rocked in September of 2008 when our one-hand wonderburst onto the scene and stole the show {and everyone's heart}. Our feisty princess, Kamryn, rounded out our bunch in July of 2010. This is our story of navigating life with a sensational son and darling diva. To start reading from Kaleb's birth story click here.